Ausdrill owed $8m in Western Desert receivership

Mining services company Ausdrill may be $8 million out of pocket after Western Desert Resources announced it had been placed in the hands of administrators on Friday.

The Northern Territory-based explorer said it had been hit hard by the substantial fall in iron ore prices, coupled with the strong Australian dollar.

It sought additional funding from Macquarie Bank but was unsuccessful, and was left with no choice but to appoint Stephen Duncan, Mark Mentha and Scott Kershaw of KordaMentha as voluntary administrators.

Ausdrill had been providing drill and blast services to Western Desert’s Roper Bar operations, and believes it is still owed $8 million for its services.

“As a result of Western Desert’s announcement, Ausdrill is not certain as to its ability to recoup all or any of the monies owed to it by the company, or as to the effect of the appointments of voluntary administrators and receivers and managers on Ausdrill’s revenue,” Ausdrill said in a statement.

The company said it was going to remain on site at Roper Bar until it received instructions from Western Areas.

“Ausdrill will seek to enforce its rights under its contracts with Western Desert,” it said.

The news follows last week’s report that Ausdrill’s managing director Ron Sayers had been discharged from the Supreme Court, after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on tax evasion charges against him and former Barminco boss Peter Bartlett.

Ausdrill suffered a 148.5 per cent fall in full-year profit, making a loss of $43.9 million on the back of write-downs and impairment charges.

Its share price closed 4 per cent lower at $1.17 per share.